The Off-Board String on the Medieval Fiddle

Drawing on explicit descriptions, iconographic representations, and contemporary narrative, this essay analyzes playing techniques and repertories plausible for one type of medieval fiddle and suggests that notions of historical fiddle performance may need to expand to accommodate the aesthetics and techniques implied by the off-board fiddle. While it has been widely assumed that the left thumb was used to pluck the laterally divergent string described by Jerome of Moravia, the complete body of evidence suggests an alternative interpretation: the thumb can be used to stop this off-board string, extending the melodic range of the instrument down to a step below the tonal center and providing potential for non-diatonic ornamentation. Ornamentation facilitated by the off-board string helps explain the emotional impact hinted at by theorists, a component underscored and clarified in visual representations of the instrument, where the off-board fiddle is associated with passion, whether sacred or profane. Similarly, this instrument is well suited to accompanying contemporary romances, which are associated with fiddle performance; the off-board string offers a singer a range of tools to heighten emotional tones and dramatic action

How the Axe Falls: A Retrospective on Thirty-five Years of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Performance

This retrospective represents a new approach to using historical performance as a tool for understanding medieval narrative performance. The core of the article traces how an individual performer’s interaction with a stable medieval text both indicates directions medieval performers may have taken and suggests the limitations imposed by modern performance conventions. The discussion touches on issues of adaptation and translation, variation in troupe composition and audience, expectations of modern audiences, impact of costume choices, and limitations of audio and video recordings as documentation of live performance. Juxtaposing eight performances of a single passage clarifies how performance can transform a text, and how a text can impose a consistent character across a range of performance redactions

How the Axe Falls: A Retrospective on Thirty-Five Years of \u3cem\u3eSir Gawain and the Green Knight\u3c/em\u3e Performance

This retrospective represents a new approach to using historical performance as a tool for understanding medieval narrative performance. The core of the article traces how an individual performer’s interaction with a stable medieval text both indicates directions medieval performers may have taken and suggests the limitations imposed by modern performance conventions. The discussion touches on issues of adaptation and translation, variation in troupe composition and audience, expectations of modern audiences, impact of costume choices, and limitations of audio and video recordings as documentation of live performance. Juxtaposing eight performances of a single passage clarifies how performance can transform a text, and how a text can impose a consistent character across a range of performance redactions

Size and survival of 2-0 Douglas-fir seedlings

Results reported here are from a large study designed to evaluate the effects of certain nursery procedures on subsequent survival of Douglas-fir seedlings. The effects of storage conditions and lifting dates were reported elsewhere (9). The determination of the optimum size of seedling for planting on different sites has been the concern of foresters for many years (3, 6, 7, 8). Recently, Christmas-tree growers in the Pacific Northwest have planted Douglas-fir seedlings extensively and, like foresters, have shown interest in obtaining high survival at minimum cost. They often demand large seedlings. Nurserymen strive to produce adequate numbers of seedlings that meet desired size requirements and that can still be easily lifted, packed, stored, and shipped. A compromise is often made between the size of seedling wanted by foresters and other users and the size of seedling that is easy or even possible for the nurseryman to produce. Seedling size is of considerable interest to nurserymen, foresters, and other users. Foresters offer various reasons for poor survival of outplanted nursery stock, one being that seedlings supplied by nurseries are too small. Christmas-tree growers likewise complain that small seedlings do poorly. Published information both supports and refutes these claims because conditions vary on the plantation sites, and site is an important consideration in determining seedling survival. Although on some sites small seedlings may not survive well, on other sites they may prove satisfactory (1). Nursery conditions, date of lifting, and storage conditions for seedlings further confound the situation

Some guidelines for planting 2-0 Douglas-fir in Oregon : a preliminary report

The Dwight L. Phipps State Forest Nursery at Elkton annually supplies 22 million 2-0 Douglas-fir seedlings to Oregon land managers. Some managers report excellent success in planting, but others report failures, particularly when planting late in the season. In some instances poor survival seemed to be related to storage. Physiological changes that affect survival are known to occur in Douglas-fir planting stock, but the effects of environmental conditions on those physiological changes in seedlings grown at the State Forest Nursery have not been studied. Storage of seedlings is a common practice, but the effects of storage on physiological conditions vary with season. For example; seedlings lifted in October cannot be stored without reducing subsequent survival, but seedlings lifted in January can be stored safely for many weeks. An experiment was conducted to measure the effect of lifting date and duration of storage on subsequent growth and survival of Douglas-fir seedlings. Also, a new type of storage container (a closed box), which was being used for the first time at the nursery, was compared with the one used previously in terms of seedling survival

Lifting and storing western conifer seedlings

Reforestation sometimes is delayed by planting seedlings that do not have high potential for survival. Several factors influence survival. Unstored Douglas-fir lifted and planted in early fall generally are increasingly harmed by moisture stress the farther south in the Douglas-fir region they are. Such early-lifted seedlings are harmed even more by subsequent cold storage, but storage of seedlings lifted after mid-November does little harm. Root growth is at a peak from January to March, and lifting causes little damage. Cold storage of seedlings lifted when they have high capacity for root growth extends the period of such capability. Storage at 35 F is least damaging. Periods of light during storage benefit survival when planted, but differences in moisture stress caused by storage in closed boxes or in open bundles apparently has no effect

The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell: Performance and Intertextuality in Middle English Popular Romance

Actual performance by a particular voice and body for a physically present audience can provide information that validates and redirects theoretical understanding of textual variation. Paul Zumthor\u27s concept of mouvance, a graphic representation of intertextuality in which virtual models function as the vertical axis and actual variations the horizontal axis,1 has provided a vehicle for addressing the variation so characteristic of Middle English verse romances. The term mouvance may also be used to describe the degree and quality of variation of a performance event from the text on which it is based.2 The mouvance recorded in a memorized performance of The Weddynge of Sir Gawan and Dame Ragnell presented at the Annual Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 1996 displays similarities to textual variants in romance manuscripts. The modern performance may thereby provide clues to the generative process behind some manuscript variants

Development and evaluation of a dynamic phantom using four independently perfused in vitro kidneys as a tool for investigating hyperthermia systems

A dynamic phantom for use in investigating hyperthermia heating systems has been designed, constructed, and tested. A computer controlled the flow rate of 80% Ethanol to each of 4 preserved in vitro canine kidneys which acted as the phantom material. The flow rates were regulated with stepper motor controlled valves and measured with flow meters by the computer. This provided a flexible system for adjusting the perfusion as desired. The system was tested with step and ramp changes in perfusion under constant power ultrasound and with a temperature controlled perfusion algorithm, all of which yielded repeatable results. The dynamic phantom developed in this work shows potential for expediting investigations of hyperthermia controllers, temporal blood flow patterns, and inverse problems. Its computer based nature gives it great flexibility which would lend itself well to automated testing procedures

A Nonsynchronous Model for the Performance of the Middle English Tail-Rhyme Stanza with Vielle

Since historical performance of Middle English tail-rhyme romances with instrumental accompaniment is a theoretical possibility, then understanding of the parameters within which such a performance might have existed is fundamental to our understanding of the form. The binary character of a bowed stringed instrument facilitates a two-stroke performance of the three-stress line, in which the stronger down bow coincides with the third metrical stress and continues into the fourth, unrealized beat. Empirical performance of a passage from Lybeaus Desconus led to offsetting bow changes from stressed syllables in a rhythmic performance of Middle English tail-rhyme stanzas. Two pragmatic advantages result from this approach. First, since both musical and textual stresses require attention, separating them reduces the competition for cognitive resources in both performer and listener. Second, offsetting the musical beat can intensify the verbal emphasis. While a stressed syllable may be intensified by extending the duration with the voice, an instrument can function to rearticulate the stressed syllable by supplying a semantically empty stress in close proximity, thus intensifying the emotional effect. This approach extends current theory suggesting that rhythmic performance of poetry may operate simultaneously within different schemas: simultaneous performance on a musical instrument may enhance tension in the poetic line by incorporating rhythmic patterns different from metrical and prose patterns inherent in the text